Game Day Essentials: Game #20 at Penn St

Penn St. Info

Head Coach: Micah Shrewsberry
Location: University Park, PA
Conference: B1G
Nickname: Nittany Lions

Mascot: The Nittany Lion

Point Spread: Penn St by 8.5

Typical Rotation Depth: 8

KenPom rank: 39

A couple of Famous Alumni: Tim Frazier, Lamar Stevens

Other:  

• Nebraska has a 2 game winning streak at PSU including last season's 93-70 drubbing of the Nittany Lions
• Despite playing a handful of freshman Penn St has what KenPom considers to be the oldest roster in D-1 thanks to bringing in several grad transfers

KenPom Analysis: Penn St is a team of extremes, their short team excelling at outside shooting and not turning over the ball. The Nittany Lions need to shoot well as they're not making it to the line nor grabbing offensive rebounds. On the other end, the Lions' defense is about trying to force bad shots as opposed to pressure.

Player to watch: G Jalen Pickett

Pickett has been a force in the conference and is in the running for CPOTY. He currently leads the team in points, assists, rebounds, and steals. The beefy guard will work his way inside the arc and will spray balls out to shooters if the defense manages to keep him from shooting

Player to watch: F Seth Lundy

Penn St's 2nd leading scorer and rebounder is shooting 42.1% from 3

KenPom most used lineup

Others to watch

• Bucknell transfer Andrew Funk is shooting 41.8% from 3
• Drexel Transfer Camren Winter is another secondary scorer and is shooting 37.3% from 3
• Freshman center Njie is a rim protector but is foul prone; not much of an offensive threat relative to his teammates
• Veteran guard Myles Dread clocks in at 6'4" 235#. Dread can operate as Penn St's small ball center and is shooting 43.7% from 3
• Freshman PG Kanye Clary and wing Evan Mahaffey are in the rotation

Probable starters for Nebraska
5    Sam Griesel    G    6-7
25  Emmanuel Bandoumel    G    6-4

0   C.J. Wilcher    G    6-5

32  Wilhelm Breidenbach    F    6-10

13  Derrick Walker    F    6-9

Bench

15   Blaise Keita C   6-11

30  Keisei Tominaga    G    6-2

10  Jamarques Lawrence - G  6-3

12  Denim Dawson - F  6-6

33  Oleg Kojenets    F    7-0
12   Sam Hoiberg    G    6-0

31  Cale Jacobsen  G  6-4

35  Henry Burt  F  6-6

24  Jeffrey Grace III  G  6-3

Injured

3   Quaran McPherson   G   6-3 - Out for the Year

4   Juwan Gary  F  6-6 - Out for the Year

The Skinny: 

In year 2 of the Micah Shrewsberry era, the former Purdue assistant has the Nittany Lions on a path to play in the postseason.  Heavily relying on experienced transfers and plenty of shooting, this is quite the departure from the grit and grind teams of Pat Chambers.

Defensively, how much will Nebraska change their scheme of taking away the paint against a team that rarely operates there? Can they slow down Pickett with just Bandoumel? With the number of 3s Nebraska gives up and the way PSU shoots them, the Huskers and their anemic offense might simply be blown out of the water.

Offensively Nebraska should be able to generate clean looks from 3. Last season they got hot there in Happy Valley so here is to history repeating itself.  However, Nebraska will patiently try and work into the paint most of the afternoon and likely will find it challenging.

This is a pretty good Penn St team and it would be an impressive upset if Nebraska can win.

Prediction: Penn St 72 - Nebraska 59